A WORKING BRIC-A-BRAC COLLECTION
This week's Studio Friday theme is Collections. Artists are notorious collectors of stuff. Or as Shakespeare put it, "snappers-up of unconsidered trifles." And I am no exception. Here are a few shelves in my studio closet, stacked with some of the bowls, jugs, cups and vases I use in my still-life paintings. Most of these things have some family history, but some were picked up at yard sales and flea markets when I was struck by a particular shape or color. I have to restrain myself at such events as I have a real passion for porcelain and glass, but a limited budget and a small house. Also, who has time to paint everything you want to? I have three young children and a husband, and pets, and a house to run (not to mention my serious blogging addiction), so I have to maintain a tight leash on my time expenditure.

I have a few other collections of things around the house. In terms of numbers of pieces my biggest collections are of art and books. They hardly count as collections, being more part of life than anything else. I have a few small collections: old fountain pens (I get them rehabbed at a Pen Hospital so that they work), rubber stamps, antique evening bags (this one is a mystery as I do not have a lifestyle that calls for frequent evening bag use but oh well!) and teapots. For some reason many people who meet me decide, unprompted, that I am a teapot-type person and give me teapots as gifts, so I have garnered quite a collection without lifting a finger. Crooking a finger?